The Role of Public Participation
Public participation is a process by which interested and affected individuals, organizations, and
government entities are consulted and included in the decision-making process.60 The public
consists of a number of people reacting to an apparent interest. Although environmental agencies
may claim to consider all factors involved, in reality, a greater emphasis is placed on the
scientific ‘facts’ that they would have gleaned from their research.
The public is the most subjected segment of the consequences of environmental decision-making
and should be able to effectively influence the outcome of such judgements61. Within an
environmental context, a court or tribunal, in rendering decisions pursuant to environmental
legislation, is inevitably responsible for specifically taking into account the public’s interest. It is
on this foundation that the uprising of a call for greater public participation has occurred.
Public Participation in the Environmental Legal System
In respect to the environmental issues facing Trinidad and Tobago, the public looked on with
much anticipation at the establishment of the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) in
1995.62 This was the creation of a new legal establishment for the protection of the environment
under the Environmental Management Act No. 3 of 1995, later substituted by the Environmental
Management Act No.3 of 2000 (EM Act 2000). The legal regime of the Act recognised the
importance of public participation. The Preamble to the EM Act 2000 identifies the intended
objectives of the legislation. The preamble exemplifies that public concerns are crucial to the
development of an effective legal regime for the protection of the environment.
Text throughout the Act continues to stress the general principles expressed in the preamble.
Section 4 of the Act emphasises the public role in terms of awareness and participation, while
Section 16 assigns the EMA the role of developing public awareness and public participation.